In response to former Northeastern athletic director Tim Duncan detailing an incident in which he was stopped by police at gunpoint last month near his Newton home, Newton City Councilor Jake Auchincloss issued a statement Wednesday calling the actions by police officers unacceptable.
“It is completely unacceptable that six Newton police drew their weapons on a man out for a walk with his wife,” Auchincloss said. “I can’t imagine how terrifying this must have been for Mr. Duncan and his wife.
"I’m thankful to him for speaking out and sharing his story, and I’m glad that Newton PD is saying nobody should go through what he did, but now it’s time for action to be taken to ensure this does not happen again.”
Advertisement
Duncan, who left Northeastern last year to take a job as athletic director at the University of New Orleans, posted a video Monday describing an encounter with police as he was out for a walk with his wife. He said he was stopped by four cars and six officers who drew their guns. The officers said he fit the description of a murder suspect.
The incident occurred May 20, five days before George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, but Duncan said he felt compelled to tell his story in the aftermath.
“I wanted to take some time to think about that,” he said. “I wanted to take some time to speak to our student-athletes before making a statement. I know that it’s been over a week now since the murder has occurred and I haven’t said anything publicly and I wanted to take some time to think about that.
“I’m disappointed in myself over the last few years in my life because I had begun to normalize these situations. I remember the talk that my mom and dad had given me about race and police from the time that I was a child.”
Advertisement
The Newton Police Department confirmed Tuesday that the incident took place. Newton Police public information officer Bruce Apotheker said Duncan could file a grievance with the department and added that he would be willing to speak with Duncan.
“To me, there’s nothing more important in this world than someone’s civil rights, dignity, and human rights, and for someone to feel that any of those have been violated, to me that’s a horrible experience,” Apotheker said. “Nobody should go through that.”
Julian Benbow can be reached at julian.benbow@globe.com.